RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – It’s been a busy month at the Virginia Employment Commission.
At the end of the week of March 8, there were more than 4,000 first-time jobless claims. That’s about 1,100 more than the week prior, which has 2,881.
Commissioner Demetrios Melis said most of those were temporary layoffs from a manufacturing company.
“Out of the approximately 1,100 [unemployment claims], 800 of those were tied to that particular factory,” Commissioner Melis said.
By March 15, initial claims had fallen to around 3,100. Melis said from a trend standpoint, it’s a good place to be.
“Over the last 20 years, we’ve averaged about 5,500 a week. And so, we remain at a very low unemployment rate,” he said.
That’s even with the mass layoffs in the federal government. Melis said about 1,100 federal employees and contractors have requested unemployment benefits thus far.
“In totality, it has not been a tremendous impact. That certainly doesn’t minimize our response to it,” he said.
According to Melis, many laid-off workers are rejoining the workforce quickly. However, it’s unclear if that’s because some are getting reinstated or finding other jobs.
With the year’s first quarter almost finished, total unemployment claims are higher than last year. In 2025, the total number of unemployment insurance claims was 23,760. In 2024, the total was 18,223, a record low.
Melis said those numbers are normalizing, and Virginia’s unemployment rate of 3% is still below the national average of 4.1%
“The economy is doing well. There are jobs available. And we believe strongly with our support, we’ll be able to reemploy those individuals quickly,” he said.
Melis urges anyone impacted by federal layoffs or unemployment to visit the VEC resource page.
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